Of Beast and Beauty (Complete)

CHAPTER TWELVE - What's in a Name?

It took Alina two days to truly wrap her head around what she had witnessed the night of the full moon. The glass of her balcony door had been fixed the same day she returned. Other than that, the castle population had seemed hesitant and heedful of her in the meantime. She hadn't seen the Lord in those two days and everyone seemed to give her a wide-berth, even Elizabeth had been noticeably absent.

On the second day, her curiosity could no longer be contained. So, Alina hunted down the Lord of the castle. It wasn't hard - she had since figured out that the dratted pull she always felt was towards him. She had no reasonable explanation why, but it was among the list of questions she had compiled for him.

Fortunately, he wasn't hidden away in his private sanctuary like a recluse. On the contrary, he was sitting in the library near her favourite chair as though he had been waiting for her.

"I've been expecting you," he said in way of greeting.

Alina crossed the room and sat across from him.

"You're a wolf."

"Only on one day of the month," he answered dryly and set the book he was reading down on the end table.

"How?"

"The better question would be why."

"Why?"

"A curse. A punishment," he offered darkly. "A faerie curse, cast upon not only me but my whole estate in retribution for my mother's careless disdain and my own petty selfishness."

"That seems like a trifle reason to curse a whole castle to turn into wolves." Alina frowned. "Not that you are pleasant to deal with now, but I don't wish you were a donkey - no matter how much of a jackass you are."

The Lord gave her a dry look and raised his eyebrows at her.

"Bad joke, I get it."

"So now my estate and I are forced to turn into wolves every full moon of the month and run with little-to-no human consciousness." He picked a piece of lint off of his pants and looked away towards the stacks of books. "I have retained more than the others, but very little more."

"How do you break the curse?" Alina demanded. "There must be a way."

"There is," he replied. "But I can't speak of it. It's forbidden. Even so, I am not entirely sure it would work."

"How ominous," she frowned.

She took a moment to collect her thoughts, staring up into the upper levels of the bookshelves that harboured thousands of books.

How long have you been under this spell?"

"Longer than I care to remember," he growled. "Since I was a boy."

"A boy?" Alina gasped, thinking of a small, helpless little boy with dark hair and light eyes.

A faerie.

So the rumours and tales were true. Faeries did exist. Perhaps it was also true when they said that the wee-folk had gone into hiding decades ago, not to be seen again.

"And there are more magical creatures that exist in the world? Not just fairies, but your kind as well. Any others?"

"Perhaps if the fae-folk have decided others needed a curse, I suppose," he said. "We never leave our lands I have no contact with the outside world so I don't know."

"You're the leader of these wolves? Like when you are human?"

"That's a bit more difficult," he sighed and looked towards her. "I am the leader of the pack - what would be referred to as an Alpha. But the position is tenuous and not linked to my position when we are human, remember, they don't remember being human. The Alpha is simply the strongest wolf of the pack. If one of the others defeat me they would rule the pack."